Here's what it's like to drive my truck right now.

You're driving down the road. ABS light is on. You hit the brakes, as you normally would, they are really soft - go all the way to the floor. You hit em hard, the pedal turns into a rock, and the whole truck steers to the right HARD AS IT CAN.

Pump the brakes, and they get hard, won't work.

Hit the brakes, normally, at any speed - no braking power.

Hit the brakes kinda hard, but not fast - some stopping power.

Slam on the brakes - steering turns you hard right. very hard right.

There is a constant squeek/metallic noise from the driver's side brakes/wheel.

 

um new brakes? bleed the lines? check ABS connections?

 

On top of gil's suggestions, stuck caliper slide and fubar'd rotor on the dr side.

 

i would sssay your pad fell apart on the drivers side.

 

my truck would pull to the left when on braking..i put new pads on a few weeks ago..the left rotor was nasty..we had to turn it 3 times to get it all straight..so it wore funny on the pad..but everything is all good to go now..

 

Wow and I thought mine were bad. Good luck getting this fixed so your not without the truck any longer

 

The rear drums on our trucks are a big pain in the but when rusty or mudded up. I have this type of thing a lot, though not quite the same symptoms. If you don't find anything up front, then take the drums off and check the rears. Particulary make sure that the adjusters work and that the rears are properly adjusted.

Also, that resistance problem sounds like it could be something in the brake booster. Going down too far is often the rear brakes being bad. High resistance and low stopping power is usually the master cylinder or booster.

 

If it's not one thing, it's always another thing, huh?

Gah.

Aftre 5 years, though, and 50,000 miles, I guess the brakes would naturally be going out, right?

I'm sure I've had the pads replaced and the rotors turned, a few years back...

 

yeah i might say its about time. ive done my brakes like 4 times in 44k...

 

Well, you were all wrong.

My something bent and broke or...

Who knows? Probably the ball bearings or whatever or the spindle gave away.

It's about to be towed back to the mechanic, 60 miles away.

Bummer:

 

ewww. Sorry for your luck man

 

Damn man, sorry this had to happen. Hopefully it's nothing major and you're not out of a Ranger for too long....again.

 

oh wow, yea something broke.

 

why to a mechanic?!?!? tear that beetch apart and fix it yourself. unless its something really fawked like you snapped the upper a arm mounts off(extreme case), it should totally be something you could do yourself fairly easily...

 

damn man ouch wonder if the upper ball joint sayed F-you and let go

 

I was thinking that but it looks like the lower one. See how far the bottom of the wheel is pulled out compaired to the rear.

 

my friends s10 looks like that on the passenger side. broken upper arm and arm mounts is his problem.

 

if:

a) i had tools at school

b) if my apt. complex would let me work on my truck in the parking lot

c) if i had the time to work on my truck

d) if i wanted to do it myself

 

christian graduates in may. he is taking 18 hours this semester.
i'm very proud of my boy.
we have good mechanics here in college station.

 

That sucks man! Let us know what it is. I love the looks of your truck, but I don't want your luck.

 

Im sure hes an angel, but im taking a lot of school too. Ive had to pull off the highway and do fixes in parking lots before. our front ends dont require that many tools/time. its pretty simple if you know youre goal.

Im not trying to say hes a bad guy, i think hes a good guy i was just suggesting. I guess im just always eager to save the expensive labor money of a mechanic and do things myself...

 

Christian are you in CS right now? Give me a call if you need some help man.

 

I think the Cooper tire did it... lol

That sucks Christan. I hope you get it rollin soon..

 

Looks like lower ball joint. Mines going bad too. It's an easy fix though.